View User's Journal

Being a big astronomy nerd I've been fascinated with the total eclipse of 2017, and always assumed that I am one of few that will drive for hours to witness a total eclipse... boy was I wrong. 2 months before the eclipse I found out that pretty much every single hotel in the path of totality had been booked months in advance. I had grossly underestimated everyone's interest in the eclipse!

Lucky for me, there were still plenty of camping sites available. I ended up choosing to drive up to Idaho because the media warned of the massive gridlock that can happen in Oregon, and also the weather might not be ideal on a costal state. We had a group of 6 who wanted to go, but 3 dropped out in fear that the mass of people and the gridlock would be unbearable.

As it turned out, the media blew everything out of proportion. (big surprise!) The drive up to Idaho was a breeze, there's no water, food, or gas shortage, and when we arrived at our campsite, we found that we were the first one at a camp ground that was only 5% reserved. We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves.

Having arrived one day in advance, we were able to enjoy a portion of the meteor shower on Saturday night, visit hot springs on Sunday afternoon, then went for some bass fishing on Sunday evening. We even caught an 8 pound bass before wrapping up for the day!

Monday morning was the eclipse. I was fully prepared with solar glasses, two binoculars and a telescope all fitted with solar filters. We patiently observed as the sun started to cool the earth and turn into a crescent shape, then before we were ready, totality happened and everything just turned dark. During totality we were all in awe of everything around us. Whether it was the night sky in the middle of the day, the twilight coming from beyond the horizon, having Mercury, Venus, and Mars visible in the sky, and the amazing corona surrounding the eclipse, every second was spent soaking in the experience of this black hole that covered up the fireball in the sky.

Needless to say that the 12 hour drive each way was totally worth it. (even more worth it because my friend did the driving!) And right after we came home, we were already talking about the next eclipse happening in 2024!

The summer event is almost ready, it was actually supposed to come out today, but we needed to balance the game a bit more and get some coding ready. We should be releasing it on Wednesday. Can't wait to show you all the mini games!

sounds like you had a blast. i wish i could've seen it, but it's not a thing we practice in my culture. anyhoo, i cannot wait for the summer event!! woot!

Esdella VieCommunity Member

Offline

Tue Aug 29, 2017 @ 10:15am

The way you tell it, it was an awesome trip! It's wild to think I was not on the planet and wouldn't be for another 9 years, when the last one happened. Really excited to know the event is so close to coming out, hopefully Harvey will be almost done by then and I can squee in peace.

ArashisoraCommunity Member

Offline

Tue Aug 29, 2017 @ 02:49pm

Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures. Sounds like it was the perfect trip!

Melena RaiCommunity Member

Online

Tue Aug 29, 2017 @ 03:01pm

kinda VERY jealous mrgreen .. sounds like an amazing time

miallahCommunity Member

Offline

Tue Aug 29, 2017 @ 04:11pm

so magical <3 it was only a partial eclipse here but still amazing none the less! nice to see u get out to enjoy something ur into : 3 also GEEZE th@s a real big fish didja eat it?

heart

x XBliss Wasnt EnoughX xCommunity Member

Offline

Tue Aug 29, 2017 @ 04:46pm

I'm so glad you had such an amazing time in my home state Lanzer! Idaho is beautiful!! Even though I myself missed this eclipse (due to a friend flaking last minute rolleyes) (I'm in Arizona now) , I got to watch the live feed in Idaho Falls and hear everyone's cheers and whoops when the totality happened. I feel like I still got to be a part of it even though it wasn't my fault I had to miss it in person. I'm very excited for the one in 2024! It helps to know I have a chance at redemption 7 years from now :3nod

Thanks for working so hard on the summer event! I'm very excited to hear about mini games!?? heart

NyadrielCommunity Member

Offline

Tue Aug 29, 2017 @ 05:13pm

Glad you got to go and see the eclipse. But um... that wasn't Venus and Mars you saw up there. LOLAnyway, happy to hear you had a really awesome time!

Cant wait for the Event to start! The reason for the delay is excused. *giggles*

Anamosa ValentineCommunity Member

Online

Tue Aug 29, 2017 @ 07:22pm

Looks like you had a great time! Glad to hear of it! ^_^

I'm looking forward to see what you have for the upcoming event!

JoJo GunnCommunity Member

Offline

Tue Aug 29, 2017 @ 07:47pm

Nice shots. Thank you for sharing. Sounds like an enjoyable trip. wink

Death on BroadwayCommunity Member

Offline

Tue Aug 29, 2017 @ 10:23pm

It sounds like you had fun. We had a totality here. Nasa people everywhere! They said we had over 100k+ visitors in my small city. It was quite beautiful to see.

I'm excited to see what you all have planned for us on the summer event!

VV o l f e hCommunity Member

Offline

Wed Aug 30, 2017 @ 02:22am

All of your pictures look like in-game final fantasy XV. O:Especially the hooked fish. Just like Noctis whenever Prompto takes a snapshot of him. >A> Lanzer. Are you even from this world?

ForestGreenCommunity Member

Offline

Wed Aug 30, 2017 @ 11:02am

You're lucky you missed out on the gridlock that happened in eastern Oregon, I have friends who are locals there and they said the traffic was terrible. You definitely lucked out with the almost-empty camp ground. I'm really glad you had funI'm up near Olympia, Washington and due to circumstances beyond my control my husband and I didn't get to go to Oregon to see totality. We got pretty close here though and it was still a neat eclipse. I had my eclipse glasses but no filter for my camera though so I didn't get pictures.

Please thank the staff for working so hard on getting a summer event ready for us. I'm eager for it to happen.

History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men - Blue Oyster Cult

Guin - AoiichiCommunity Member

Offline

Thu Aug 31, 2017 @ 12:29am

Let's make it a GAIA trip in 2024 !

SianseraisCommunity Member

Offline

Thu Aug 31, 2017 @ 08:47am

Nice to hear you didn't have any trouble! They were claiming we'd see large numbers of people in the Newport area for it, but they really didn't materialize here either. It really was beautiful, though, wasn't it?

Zeitgeist_XCommunity Member

Offline

Fri Sep 01, 2017 @ 08:50pm

woah, hella cool! glad you had a great trip!

Akeiza ortizCommunity Member

Offline

Sat Sep 02, 2017 @ 03:03am

i actually got the glimpse in 70% of total eclipse

demonic_angelkynd1Community Member

Offline

Sat Sep 02, 2017 @ 05:58pm

nicefish!

MuleLT-0Community Member

Offline

Tue Sep 12, 2017 @ 11:15am

Could we please be able to switch teams to get the items from other team and one more, the last achievement?

Pretty please?

<3

UrKarmaNightmareCommunity Member

Offline

Sun Sep 24, 2017 @ 01:37pm

Your trip sounds amazing! And an 8Lb Bass to boot!My name is Shawnee, I live in Michigan and was unable to see the eclipse due to illness. My BFF brought me the most awesomely beautiful pictures of the shower, a quarter eclipse, & the full eclipse itself!! It was so wonderful of him; that I still got to participate in something so rare. a.k.a. UrKarmaNightmare